In a post at Politix, I look at how conservatives and Republicans reacted to the new jobs report. In two words: not well: Former GE CEO Jack Welch tweated that the jobs numbers were “unbelievable.” He charged, “these Chicago guys will do anything…can’t debate so change numbers.” So many right-of-center critics followed Welch’s lead that [Read More...]

It is, for reasons that I dare not go into at this time and perhaps ever, a perfectly lousy Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, some of our more thoughtful forbears wrote down words to come alongside us and help us bear up under it. It’s funny that their scribblings should have such an effect, but they do. [Read More...]

It’s published in Splice Today today. I argue that the president likely threw off the first debate to stave off boredom. Seriously: It’s broadly acknowledged that President Obama got beat like a drum by Mitt Romney in the first presidential debate in Denver. Even Slate, that bastion of phony contrarianism, couldn’t find a single pundit [Read More...]

Don’t have much to add to tonight’s presidential debate, but let me say this: If any pundit argues Barack Obama won tonight’s debate, mark it down and never pay attention to this person again. [Read more...]

Your diarist is about to sign off and head down to Seattle for the day to watch a Mariners game with Mum, Dad, the kid brother and several relatives rarely heard from. The only thing that could put a damper on things is what appears to be an inner ear infection. The right ear is [Read More...]

“I want to win.” That’s the subject line of Barack Obama’s latest e-mail in my inbox. I was going to give him some grief about it. However, given my long history of complaints about the stalker-y tone of e-mails from the Obama campaign, this one really isn’t so bad. The president gets a pass, just [Read More...]

Why is it that so many literary folks, who have fine judgment when it comes to books, are raving lunatics when they write about politics? Today’s exhibit is Paul Constant, books editor for the Seattle alt weekly The Stranger. His name is an almost (excuse the pun) constant presence on Real Clear Books. But then [Read More...]

The very old radio in my Subaru has basically two settings: the default and the backup. The default is 102.7 FM, the Peak, a modern rock station out of Vancouver that has a tolerable mix of old standards and new music. The backup is 790 KGMI AM, the local talk station that runs Rush Limbaugh, [Read More...]